Barbara Kay: Ghomeshi affair opens
a new front in ironies of sexual politics

It’s like a volcano. The rumbles go on for weeks, months, even years. But
when the volcano finally erupts, the lava flow is surprisingly swift and can
mean sudden death for anyone in its path.

That’s where we are now in the Ghomeshi affair. Watching Jian
Ghomeshi try to outrun the lava, composed of the alleged victims’ narratives,
the media, the CBC and law enforcement itself. Without the help of his crisis
management and PR firms, who have jumped into their helicopters and left him to
fend for himself. I will now retire this metaphor, which has more than served
its purpose.

In my Wednesday column, I implied that I was inclined to
believe Ghomeshi was guilty of the allegations against him. I am far more so
today. It seems to me virtually impossible for a conspiracy to have produced so
many disparate individuals with essentially the same story. And with two highly
credible women having gone on the record with their claims, a picture is
emerging of a man in need of therapy for intimacy issues (if he doesn’t actually
end up in prison, entirely conceivable if one now-emboldened woman surrounded by
supportive witnesses does in fact lay charges against him). I am not saying he
is mentally ill, or that he is not responsible for his actions. Even if he is in
thrall to some psychological disorder, it does not mean he doesn’t
know right from wrong.

Something is puzzling me. I keep reading the words “mob” and “lynching” from
commentators who are appalled at people like me, rushing to judgment without
Ghomeshi having received due process, and without the women involved filing
charges against him. Why haven’t they gone to the police, everyone keeps asking.
Obviously because each woman thought she was alone in her experience, and that
she could not prove it, and that in some cases, she herself was not blameless in
having opened the door to her experience by ignoring warning signs, and in other
cases because her career might be derailed, and all things considered, it was
best to move on with her life. I understand these women’s reluctance to pursue a
charge. Life isn’t always about perfect justice. It’s about cost/benefit
analysis as well – the discomfort of the public glare on dubious sexual
preferences in some cases, for example – and so, balancing their options in
practical terms, the women did what was best for themselves. I’d have done the
same.

An irony strikes me. Why am I not reading the words “rape culture”
in this story? Over the past few years, we have been immersed in moral panic
over the alleged horrors awaiting female coeds on campus. In story after story,
we have seen – how shall I say? – oh yes, “mob lynchings” of young men accused
of rape purely on the word of a young woman who in many cases was so drunk at
the time of the encounter, she can’t even remember what actually transpired.
These women were not urged to go to the police (because everyone knows that in
real life, their cases wouldn’t meet the standard for evidence). But in large
part the media has no compunction in labeling such accused young men as rapists,
even though they did not get anything like due process. Very few pundits express
indignation on their behalf. If the particulars of the Jian Ghomeshi story had
unfolded on a university campus, and instead of a media star, he was a hockey
player, can you imagine any Canadian observer seriously decrying his so-called
mob lynching? Scores of campus men are being lynched every day across North
America, and most pundits are calling it justice, because how else can we end
the scourge of “rape culture”?

Here’s another irony. If Jian Ghomeshi were in a relationship – living with a
woman, I mean – and he committed any of the abuses Ghomeshi is accused of, and
she called the police, he’d be arrested in a heartbeat. He could explain until
the cows came home that he and his partner were into kinky sex, and that
physical violence (controlled, with a “safe” word) were part of the deal, but
unless his partner confirmed it (and even then, the police might think she was
covering for him out of fear), he’d be toast. Because that is the default policy
with regard to intimate partner violence. I have heard from literally hundreds
of men who have been falsely accused of violence by partners, especially during
custody battles, and not one of them got due process, and nobody cared that they
didn’t.

Most readers are likely to conclude that Ghomeshi is as guilty as hell, even
before any of the complainants ever files a police statement or before their
evidence is examined and cross examined.

Our society has a double standard with an increasing "reverse onus" or
assumption of guilt simply because a female made allegations against a male.

It is extremely easy to have have copy cat claims of abuse and there are large
benefits to be obtained by claiming to be a victim of someone famous that
provides a lot of motivation to those ready to make false allegations.

In this case, Ghomeshi has made some disturbing admissions and its those
admissions that in this case, that make it easy and attractive for others to be
tempted to make false allegations.

At the same time his 55 Million dollar law suit might appear to provide some
deterrent but at the end of the day, society will fall over backwards assuming
that any and all complaints against Ghomeshi are most probably genuine.

That evidence will need to be tested and at the end of the day, any denials of
Ghomeshi will be disregarded as he will not be able to prove that he did not
commit any criminal acts.

Our society encourages the "stacking of witnesses" to lead to a conclusion that
"all these people can't be wrong".

That provides absolute power to one gender, to the police, authorities and
encourages abuse of power.

Feminists should spare a thought for male victims of female violence most of
whom are many times more reluctant to come forward and face the prospect of the
increasingly normal practice of police to charge male victims of domestic
violence.

We live in a society were Fabrication of Evidence by Police officers is rampant.

Take Detective Peter Van Der Zander of the Ottawa Police who personally
fabricates evidence to justify NOT laying charges against violent females when
if the genders were reversed, charges would be automatic and it would go to
trial automatically.

If Ghomeshi was a victim of similar allegations by a woman, the Toronto Police
would probably be more inclined to lay charges against him, simply because his
claims contradict feminist theories.